This is a collection of seven short mysteries. Some I had never read before, but some were familiar. I was expecting Father Brown to appear in at least one of these stories, but he never showed up. Chesterton tends to write stories with a spooky, otherworldly sort of feel that he then demolishes. That was present at least once - the story about the duel, "The Five of Swords" - but the rest were just straightforward, slightly oldfashioned stories. I admit I skipped the forward by HRF Keating and Chesterton's own introduction, because I didn't want any spoilers, but I did wonder when some of these stories were written. There is a lot of racism in this book, particularly about Jews. That rubbed me wrong, but I know it was definitely a characteristic of the age. "The Moderate Murderer" is the one I had seen most often before, but it was the one I enjoyed the most. It is also the longest story in the collection.

Cautiously recommended for those who enjoy historical mysteries and can tolerate the intolerance in the book. ( )